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Suspects Arrested With Handgun

CELINA — Two area men face felony charges after Celina police officers allegedly found them in possession of a handgun that has the serial numbers filed off.

The two men were suspect in vehicle break-ins in the area of Wilkins Street.

At 3:45 a.m. Monday, officers were responding to a call of two suspects going through a vehicle parked at 606 Wilkins St. In route they were flagged down by a subject near Logan and Elm streets. That subject, Joseph Vian, was the son of one of the victims.

Clifford Chandler Jr., 24, of Celina, was driving past the Vian home at 606 Wilkins Street, and observed the suspects going through the car. He stopped and told the victim, Christina L. Vian, 42, what he had seen. She woke up her son and he and Chandler chased down the suspects and stopped them at the Landmark Office on Logan Street.

The responding officers made contact with the two suspects. Initially both denied any wrong-doing. During a pat-down of the suspects, one was found to be carrying a loaded .25 caliber handgun inside his pants. During follow-up questioning both reportedly admitted that they had been going through parked vehicles, and that just prior to the police arriving, the handgun had been passed off from one suspect to the other.

Kyle R. Poplaski, 20, of Celina, was the suspect found with the handgun when officers arrived. He is facing charge of carrying a concealed weapon, a fourth-degree felony. The other suspect, George W. Darland,(19, of rural Coldwater, who reportedly admitted to officers the handgun was his and that he had been carrying up to the time that the victims stopped them at Landmark, is facing a similar charge.

Both suspects appeared in Celina Municipal Court Monday afternoon and were ordered held on a bond of $50,000 each with a 10 percent cash provision.

Anyone who believes their vehicle may have been gone through overnight Sunday night is asked to contact the Celina Police Department at 419-586-2345.